The Conference on English Leadership was born in 1968 as the Conference for Secondary School English Department Chairpersons (CSSEDC). CSSEDC was originally formed as a conference devoted initially to concerns of secondary school English Department chairmen, . There is a process that takes time to form a national organization. In 1970 CSSEDC became a constitutional committee of the National Council of Teachers of English.
Although CSSEDC started out as a conference devoted to concerns ofsecondary school English Department chairmen, CSSEDC gradually has btoadened its service and its membership to include persons responsible for total English language arts programs in local school districts. The conference welomes not only department heads, but such persons as language arts coordinators, supervisors, consultants, resource teachers, principals, coordinators, directors of instruction and others.